King Bacham took in all Merotse’s words this time and he really missed his home. After three years of expedition, he could not stop thinking of his home.
Another arrow with a red copper tail shot into the tent! Tsinpa Merotse looked at the arrow and the yellow paper tied to it. He knew something was wrong because it was from Zhaotoin, for certain, again. Merotse really wanted to catch him and kill him immediately.
King Bacham took the letter. As soon as he read it, his anger and fear was swept away at once. He laughed aloud and cried out:
“It must be the providence of Bodhisattva, I’ll go and get the beautiful Cholmo.”
King Bacham handed the letter to Tsinpa Merotse. The letter read: “The arrow is truly the divine arrow of Gesar but Gesar is still far from here! If he was near he wouldn’t shoot the arrow first. So, if we can pull the arrow out and put it under the foot of the Demon Deity, Gesar would lose all his power and we could take Cholmo without any trouble.”
“So, Merotse, pull the arrow out now!” King Bacham ordered.
Merotse came up to the arrow and tried twice to pull it out. It seemed that it had grown into the pillar and remained unmoved. He became tired and was covered in sweat.
“Stand aside and let me do it myself.” King Bacham thought Merotse didn’t pull with enough effort, so he tried himself. He stretched his strong arms, grasped the arrow and pulled it with all his might. The arrow remained perfectly still. On the contrary, King Bacham fell because of his over exertion. Now King Bacham knew the full power of the divine arrow.
King Bacham thought to himself: “If the arrow is so powerful, its owner, the Lion King, will be much more unrivalled in bravery. If we don’t seize Cholmo now, we won’t be able to leave here after he comes back.”
“Merotse, give the order to attack the city at once and take Cholmo away! There is no more time left for her, whether she likes it or not, I can’t wait any more.”
“My King, are you sure you can marry Cholmo exclusively?”
“Don’t waste your words. If we don’t take Cholmo with us, all the soldiers and horses that died and all the wounded, the food, facilities and the cost during the period of more than three years would be meaningless. Then we come to the State of Ling in vain.”
King Bacham ordered the troops to attack. In the meantime, Queen Cholmo had made preparations for a fight. She was wearing armour and was armed with a bow and arrows left by the Lion King.
King Bacham and Tsinpa Merotse rushed out to advance on the city. Cholmo shot four arrows that killed 400 Hor soldiers. Unfortunately, before she could shoot the fifth one, King Bacham had caught her.
The Hor soldiers sounded the bugle and retreated at once.
By the time Chatsa arrived back with the army of the State of Ling, he found Darze an empty city, with the city gates wide open and the treasures in the warehouses plundered by the Hor army, including the divine arrows and spear. Seeing all of this, Chatsa went mad with rage. He seemed to have lost his mind and he went after the Hor army himself without consulting anyone or deploying the army.
How could he not be anxious! Gesar had entrusted him with all the administrative affairs, such as defending the State of Ling, taking care of Cholmo and guarding the cattle and goats, before he went north to vanquish the demons. But now, the Queen had been seized and all their treasures had been taken away. How could he explain all this to Gesar when he came back?
Chatsa kept his white-backed horse galloping like lightning in pursuit of the Hor troops. Finally, Chatsa caught up with Hor troops. Flinging aside all care Chatsa rushed into the middle of the Hor troops and fought and killed many of them. The Hor troops fell into complete disorder and the soldiers took to their heels, to save themselves, in all directions. Tsinpa Merotse, who was in the rear, felt very apprehensive when he saw Chatsa coming with such a charge. He soon thought up an idea as to how he could stop Chatsa.
He went out of the troops and stood a stone’s throw from Chatsa, and said:
“Chatsa Shigar, don’t keep on running after us. Today is the 15th day of the month and is the day on which King Bacham promised not to kill people when he was initiated into monkhood. Let’s play a game instead of fighting.”
Chatsa was completely taken in and stopped chasing.
“Merotse, both you and the Hor king shouldn’t have kidnapped our Queen. To give back Queen Cholmo and all the treasures taken from Ling is the only way to stop this war between the Hor and Ling.”
Merotse was very happy that Chatsa had given up chasing his soldiers.
“Chatsa, my hero, let’s lay the affairs of the two states aside. I want to complete my military skills with you. If you win, I will report to my king and tell him to return Cholmo and the treasures. But if you are unfortunately defeated, you must go back to the State of Ling.”
Chatsa nodded and accepted his suggestion. Tsinpa Merotse suggested that they have a competition in archery first and then the sword. Without hesitation, Chatsa took out his arrow with the eagle tail feather and put it on the bow and said:
“Listen to me, Tsinpa Merotse, my target is the tassel on your helmet.”
As he finished speaking, he fired his arrow and hit Merotse’s tassel. The tassel flew into the sky. The shining sharp arrow turned and flew back into Chatsa’s quiver. Tsinpa Merotse’s face turned pale. He thought to himself that people only said Gesar was a great hero, but from today’s situation, Chatsa was a great hero, too. We will definitely never get away if we don’t kill him. What a pity, my hero, Chatsa. You will die from my arrow. I didn’t mean to do so. It’s just for your unrelenting chasing. I had to do this today.
Merotse said with smiles all over his face: “You are a great hero who is elevated in character. I will shoot the white tassel of your helmet. Until now, I’ve never missed a target.”
After saying so, he fired an arrow and it hit right in the middle of Chatsa’s forehead. Now in great pain, the hero straightened his body and pulled out his broadsword. Clipping the horse’s belly with his legs, he rushed at the soldiers’ camp. At the same time, Tsinpa Merotse rode off and hid himself somewhere. After killing numerous enemy soldiers Chatsa fell dead.
